Last episode, you all caught me fooling with an IBC deck that I called”Cooked Goose.” It was put forth as more or less a”fun” idea. But I have been playing the deck some, and it’s not a bad deck. Alexander Tsikarev was kind enough to mail in and suggest Agonizing Demise over Malice. Good choice, as this primarily has the same casting cost for the same effect — 3B to kill a non-black creature — and has a kicker that can throw some damage into the equation.
Also, for all of you who follow along here, you’ll perhaps know that I’ve been diagnosed type one diabetic. That means I’m insulin-dependent — and so whenever I want to go somewhere for the day, I have to carry along all my supplies to keep me functioning under the duress of the disease. I looked at all the stuff, the blood sugar analysis machine, the needles and vials of insulin, plus all the other things like extra test strips and alcohol wipes, that I should have something sugary in case I have an insulin”reaction” and go hypoglycemic, et cetera, and realized that I didn’t have any kind of carrying case for the stuff. Therefore, I had to go out and get one. Somehow, I did not find it surprising that the amount of contents that I’d need would seemingly fit quite well in a ladies’ purse… So I went purse shopping.
Notice that there is no exclamation point after that last sentence.
Luckily, I found at the local Wal-Mart a nouveau sort of nylon girl’s bag that didn’t look too feminine. Seinfeld sez I can call it a”European carryall,” but when you cut down to brass tacks… It’s a purse. So the”insulin purse” is just something else you can use to recognize me at the tourneys.
Ah, Magic.
Still, as the St. Louis IBC qualifier was coming up, I had had the thought that I was witnessing an uprising in control decks. It seems that most of the”cool” cards are control types like Pernicious Deed to go along with the onslaught of blue-oriented cards like Repulse and Exclude. My guess was that a good aggro-control deck was the proper choice for the tourney… And in light of the”No Mar” deck that Carl Jarrell had slammed on us right after Apocalypse broke on the scene, and I had some good practice with it, it was the ticket for the qualifier. I’m not sure how Carl came up with the deck, but it owes some allegiance to”the Solution.” It’s also not an uncommon deck to put together, because a week or so after Carl began hammering us that it was a good deck it won the Denver PTQ, only differing from Carl’s design by some three or four cards. We’ve been having a boot party at Carl’s expense for some time that he didn’t display the deck here for all that it was worth.
As it was, the PTQ weekend here somewhat coincided with my oldest son’s birthday and my wife’s birthday, being as how they come one day after the other in the middle of August. This made it so that we had some plans for the weekend to celebrate these events on top of my desire to play the Magical cards. My wife qualified for a free slot tournament at Harrah’s casino and wanted to participate in that as a part of her birthday. This was going to happen at the same time as the PTQ on Saturday, so we got gramma involved in watching the kids. Not to forget that as a new owner of season tickets to the NFL Rams, there was a pre-season game scheduled that Friday night against the Titans. What happened was that it gave us a need to get everyone rounded up on Friday to make the one-hour trip to the city to gramma’s house. From there I met my dad, and we took my oldest to the game while my wife stayed with her mother and my two youngest kids.
This was where I began struggling with both traveling with my disease and the apprehension surrounding doing this for the first time. Before we even left the house, I started feeling woozy — and since we were in a bit of a rush I didn’t take the time to check my sugar level but just ate a PB&J sandwich. I’m pretty sure my level was low, but the sandwich works and we hit the road. At gramma’s, I check my level and inject a dose, thinking I’ll get something to eat at the game. When we get there, because the MLB Cardinals are also playing, there’s a skeleton crew of service workers in the stadium, and the lines for the concession stands are VERY long. I began waiting in a line that wasn’t moving. After some minutes, however, I wind up spying a beer stand with a short line — and while alcohol isn’t a complete no no for the diabetic, it’s not a terribly good thing either. I swoop on the alcohol-laden carbohydrates anyway, along with a bag of peanuts. My son is not impressed with my selections, and I can’t blame him. I go on to fear that I haven’t ingested enough carbs and whatnot to offset the shot I just took and will again”crash” at the game. Luckily this doesn’t happen, but as my son starts to lose interest at the beginning of the second half, we decide to make an early exit. I’d prefer to get back to gramma’s, in case I indeed do suffer the hypoglycemic”crash.” I have something to eat, do the needle routine again, and go to bed around 10:30 p.m.
I awake screaming with a severe cramp in my calf at about 5 a.m. the next morning. I can’t remember the last time I had a cramp like this – if I EVER had one like this. My calf is knotted in a ball and hurt quite terribly. I wake my wife, and she helps by rubbing the calf and urging me to get up and walk it off. I do, and it helps…. But I never really get back to sleep again, despite laying back down after fooling with the Game Boy for an hour or so.
The wife gets up later and we get off from gramma’s with me in a quasi-limping state. We had to find a bank to cash a check – and then I drop the lovely wife at Harrah’s for the slot tourney and make my way to the Fantasy Shop in St. Charles. Driving up, I see teammate Mike Mason hanging out on the front steps. This is somewhat reassuring. Inside I find that the other local mate, Scott Forster, is having a recurrence of car trouble and while his ride got him to the tourney it was leaking coolant like a sieve when he got out and needs a tow back to the shop.
My, aren’t we having the luck?
I register this.
Lateralis
4 Stormscape Apprentice
4 Spectral Lynx
4 Meddling Mage
2 Galina’s Knight
3 Voice of All
1 Dromar, the Banisher
2 Vindicate
3 Fact or Fiction
2 Absorb
4 Undermine
4 Dromar’s Charm
2 Spinal Embrace
1 Yawgmoth’s Agenda
8 Island
4 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Coastal Tower
3 Dromar’s Cavern
Sideboard:
3 Dodecapod
3 Gainsay
3 Probe
2 Dismantling Blow
2 Obsidian Acolyte
2 Crimson Acolyte
In preparing for the tourney, Spinal Embrace — the”tech” card of the deck, and the reason I felt obligated to give it another name — had been winning matches against the mad doctor Jay MS in testing. The card was primarily a response to Spiritmonger, but it works on a whole lot of cards and could make a decent swing in board position and life with any number of creatures. In this tournament, however, it was a complete non-factor. While I played versions of the Kowal deck twice, I don’t think the card was in my hand but once over the course of the whole tourney and I sided it out often enough because most of the decks I played were near-creatureless. At this point I’d move it to the sideboard and replace the two slots with some combo of Vindicate, Galina’s Knight, the fourth Fact or Fiction, or Absorb. We could wonder about the one Dromar, but this kind of deck can have a tendency to have trouble finishing, which a Dragon legend can do. I named the deck”Lateralis” because I knew the pieces fit, and it was splitting the difference between No-Mar and Go-Mar.
Probe, from the sideboard, was supposed to be that neato trick — and in fact I had some good games with it, kicking a couple of cards away from opponents when it mattered… And since I wasn’t showing a discard type of deck, there was little fear of Dodecapod. However, once the matches fired up in the PTQ, I never found that I was able to make main deck cuts to fit the cards in, especially three of them. There are some other sideboard considerations as well… But I’ll get back to them later, with what I hope will be an upgrade of the deck with considerations on the metagame that I played against, and also in regards to what the usual sources are reporting on the global metagame.
Round One
As the tournament started and I limped to my match, I just wasn’t feeling right.”Woozy” might be the word, as I hadn’t had a proper night’s sleep topped by my apprehension — not of the tourney itself per se, but of how I was going to navigate seven rounds of swiss while managing my condition.
Unsurprisingly, I’ve lost my notes for the tourney. I’ll wing this.
My first-round opponent was from Kansas City. He was playing something close to the Kowal deck with Pernicious Deed, Spiritmonger, and enough blue for Mystic Snake and some usual blue staples. My assault of Lynxes and Meddling Mages naming said Deed, backed with my permission, was too much fast beats for him generally — and a timely Stormscape Apprentice against a late Monger in game two let me get the final damage in. I sided in the Gainsays and Obsidian Acolytes in game two, and got an Acolyte that kept him from using black removal — which he showed me when it was all over.
Matches 1-0, Games 2-0
Round Two
Again this was the Kowal-style deck, and things went much the same. Honestly, the aggro control style of”No Mar” should own this matchup. As these two matches were right together, I may have confused even the few details I can muster together,** but tiny dudes with special abilities backed with counters are some good here. The Acolyte game might have happened here, and I think I killed off a Gaea’s Skyfolk with Dromar’s Charm when my opponent played an end of turn Fact or Fiction and I had three creatures down — including a Mage naming Deed.
Matches 2-0, Games 4-0
Starting out well isn’t alleviating my spaced-out feelings. I do, however, get a scouting report from Mike and Scott on my round three opponent, as he beat Scott in round one. The deck is U/B/R and near creatureless. This sounds good to me as the little dudes and permission go to work. I think this was a me, him, me sort of deal, and he burned me out in game two, working off of several Prophetic Bolts and Rages with a Nightscape Familiar in play. In the games around this, I think I do well with Meddling Mage again and the fabulous Lynx. I side in both Acolytes and the Gainsays, and the Embraces went out. I was also kinda consciously dropping my curve. It worked. Game three was close but I got some breathing room when we were both right under ten life with an Absorb — and then I locked things up with a couple of Undermines in the grave and a resolved Agenda.
Matches 3-0, Games 6-1
After this I run by the judges table and tell them my situation with the diabetes. I need to level check and get something to eat. They just gave the five-minute warning for the round to end, and I scramble like mad to do all the stuff. Next to the card shop is a discount grocery and I grab a Lunchables of ham and cheese for the meal. Not that it is a meal, but I was so pressed that it was all I had time to get. I wolf that down and return to the shop just in time for the next round. I’m worried the little snack isn’t enough of a meal to balance my dose, but it included a Reese’s cup that I put in the purse in case I start to fall out from low blood sugar.
I’m paired against someone I know — namely, Nick Weber, one of the highest-quality players in the St. Louis area. He’s piloting a U/G/R deck that he was building prior to the tourney and Mike and Scott give me again a little scouting. The games proceeds slowly as we are both trying to not make mistakes, my head still in the clouds a bit. In game one small guys and permission again win the day, and I believe he was land glutted. The game wasn’t close, but it still took a long time to play.
Game two was much different. He was nearly creatureless — so again I drop the Embraces for Crimson Acolyte and get in the Gainsays. At times I was pulling in Gainsay for a Swamp, because I was cutting my curve down and I think I was also taking out the Vindicates as well. My opponents seemed to be running few permanents.
Anyway, we get into the game a few turns and I’m fighting the battle with Repulse against my Cats and Mages again. At the end of one of his turns I play Fact or Fiction, tapping out. He thinks for some time, and then Opts. I wait while he draws. I’m in a good position but still feeling a bit dazed. He tasks quite a while to do this play and then plays Mystic Snake against the Fact or Fiction. I tell him it resolves and then proceed to start turning over cards onto the table from the top of my deck! What a mistake. He points out the error and immediately calls the judge. I leave everything where it is. We agree on the game state and I admit to the mistake, basically telling the judge that”I just got lost” as to where things were. I get a warning and have to put the cards in my deck I’d turned over, then shuffle and present the deck. We move forward, but I’m in command with a Lynx that he can’t stop. He makes a Meteor Storm in here somewhere, but it’s useless against the Lynx and he can’t race me when he has a hand of three cards.
Gotta wonder how Nick feels, since the last time we played was about a year ago when I was just getting back in the game. I think it was my second tournament ever. The format was Standard, where he was playing Bargain and I was with Ankh Tide packing the not-legal-at-the-time Force Spike. Ooof. I’ll try and get away with whatever my idiocy will allow…
Matches 4-0, games 8-1
Round 5 I’m again sitting in a top spot, and pull a player from the Chicago area named Opalk? He unravels a playmat containing some interesting novelty items and four or five Top 8 pins. I figure this won’t be easy. It wasn’t.
The deck was U/W/R and was probably pretty standard (in as much as you get such a thing from IBC) with the usual Repulses, Excludes, with Prophetic Bolts, Fire/Ices and Opts. I also got Routed once, and I’d guess that was a main deck card — although I’m not sure. What was missing were Lightning Angels, and he did plenty of card drawing to see them if he had them. As it was, I think this was a creatureless version of counter burn with enough White for a few things. I now think that this was very close to the deck that won the massive Kobe Grand Prix.
Again, in his win, Prophetic Bolt to my head was most of what did me in, and my victories came from maintaining board advantage with Meddling Mages and Lynx backed up with permission.
Matches 5-0, Games 10-2
There are three 5-0’s at this point. Luckily I get paired up with the other 5-0 player, who says we can draw in. Still, we have to wait for the game slips to be passed out and we sit down and I put my deck on something next to the table. I can tell that I’m feeling a little spaced out and remark on my condition and that”I could use a break.” The fellow happened to be an EMT — and his sympathy, along with that of many others, was greatly appreciated. I feel better in that if I happen to flat-out pass out, at least he’ll know what’s up. He asks if I want to go and eat, but for my part it hasn’t been long enough since my last”meal” and thinking that I’ll get a bye again next round decide to try and postpone eating.
Since I’m pretty well assured of the finals, I have to get in touch with my wife. I get up and go to find a phone.*** I try and call the casino, which I could probably hit with a well-tossed rock… But as it’s across the Missouri river, it’s long distance, and the call, which required wading through the auto operator functions and help representative, takes some time and a couple of dollars in change and some time to get the message through. I hunt up a diet soda and go to wait around till the next round. I find some other southern Missouri players I know — most notably Perry Richardson, who lives in my little hometown burg as well, and who was 5-1 with a very similar deck, and Jesters Cards owner Stacy. We begin talking, and I feel a need to check over my deck — and it’s not in my carrying case!
I begin a small scramble to find it. Did I leave it in the restroom? No. At the table I was sitting at? No. Finally, Matt Ham comes up and asks,”Have you found your deck?” I’m like,”No, it’s missing.” He laughingly advises me that the judging staff has it and that someone turned it in to them. We go to check, and here’s the same judge that gave me the warning handing me the deck back. He laughs at me as well. I feel terribly lucky to not have had the thing scooped up into the darkness. Whoever turned it in, thank you. Find me. I owe you one.
What a game. Who the heck can suffer all this crap and go 5-0 and draw into the finals?
Round 7, and my opponent is in a position to draw in as well. I finally get to do the insulin routine again and finally get something substantial to eat. That made me feel so much better and I was feeling pretty darn good going into the finals.
However, taking a mulligan into a two-land hand and then not getting another land until I was burned out was sort of a new kind of bummer. I had avoided such luck most of the day, but here it wasn’t to be. I got crushed and the writing was on the wall as soon as I started to discard at my end of turn. My opponent was again with an almost creatureless deck that was U/R/G that was again more in the CounterBurn mold. Greg called them”Pathetic Bolt.”
Game two was all me, as little white dudes and a couple of Undermines that sealed the deal before too much happened.
Game three was hard-fought. I believe we opened by trading with Skyfolk vs. Lynx. I made a Meddling Mage, I think, but he was stalling off with creature bounce. He got the advantage and then got me down to 8 with the Skyfolk and some burn. I think he was in the same vicinity. I tapped out and put three dudes down, including two Meddling Mages naming Repulse and Rage, and I believe a Crimson Acolyte. I think he was at ten and I could win this race if he didn’t have burn I hadn’t named. However, he responded at the end of my turn with a Prophetic Bolt sending me to four and then cast a second one in his upkeep, getting me my prizes that much sooner.
Post-Tourney Deck Thoughts
The Embraces, of course, need to go to the sideboard. At this point I think replacing those two slots with the fourth Fact or Fiction and a third Vindicate would be wise — however, in reading Theron Martin’s most recent Metagame madness report we see the rise of Obliterate, a deck idea I kept advocating to my teammates. I put a bit of time into trying to get the idea to work, but couldn’t. In response to Obliterate, with this deck I think you have to consider Lobotomy, either in the main deck or sideboard — given the archetype’s presence, I might go so far as to consider Addle for this deck.
Beneath Skin and Jewelry, a.k.a. Carl J’s Tool
4 Stormscape Apprentice
4 Spectral Lynx
4 Meddling Mage
2 Galina’s Knight
3 Voice of All
1 Dromar, the Banisher
3 Vindicate
4 Fact or Fiction
2 Absorb
4 Undermine
4 Dromar’s Charm
1 Yawgmoth’s Agenda
8 Island
4 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Coastal Tower
3 Dromar’s Cavern
Sideboard:
3 Dodecapod
3 Gainsay
3 Lobotomy
2 Dismantling Blow
2 Obsidian Acolyte
2 Crimson Acolyte
Although I’d be tempted to go with this sideboard…
4 Gainsay
3 Lobotomy
3 Obsidian Acolyte
3 Crimson Acolyte
2 Dismantling Blow
You know, Friday, driving into the city, we passed a little independent car repair joint called”Rizo’s.” I took it as a good sign despite the lack of a second Z – and verily if the Magic gods did not find it to shine on me. Then when I get home I see on Bernie’s Press Box, a local sports bulletin board this.
**************************
bernie’s press box
Name: scott gibbs
Date: 08/18/2001
Time: 09:35:10 AM
Category:
Subject: who is Johnny Rizzo?
hello y’all,
I downloaded Sean Lahnman’s baseball stat archive because I wanted to see
how Albert Pujol’s rookie year stacked up.
I ran a query like so
games >120
r > 70
rbi > 80
h > 140
d > 30
t >1
hr > 20
bb > 40
I didn’t include strikes because the modern attitude is so much different.
here are the results.
Firstname Lastname Year Lg
Dale Alexander 1929 AL
Zeke Bonura 1934 AL
Alvin Davis 1984 AL
Bob Johnson 1933 AL
Johnny Rizzo 1938 NL
Ted Williams 1939 AL
I sure hope Pujols doesn’t end up with a nickname like Zeke Bonura had.
************************************
I sent this through the SC list, and I’ll be a monkey’s uncle**** if Issue Boy didn’t have the answers.
Rizzo: Ah, but I already broke his career down in a past article – someone wasn’t paying attention, dammit! I think it was the Down Time article, but I can’t remember- just read them all, so my hits go up and I can get paid more. Oh wait.*****
Will: Rizzo provides a novel each week or three days, and we’re supposed to remember obscure references? K, Chief…
Rizzo: Zeke Bonura’s nickname was Banana Nose. Apparently, in the thirties, nicknames got all medieval. The Lip (Durocher), Ducky Wucky (Medwick), Losing Pitcher Mulcahy, Fat Freddie, Twinkletoes, Blimp, Old Tomato Face, and the best: Babe Ruth’s Legs, which was Sammy Byrd, a defensive replacement for babe.
Keep playin’, kids. Me and JFR are living proof that the MtG gods may get all fickle and whatnot and give you a nice T8 pin no matter that you’re all goofy with medication or playing some deck that’s mostly green in the Extended format…
And Oh yeah. I think you should vote for Mike Turian amongst all those Star City guys that you know are most deserving.
Force of Will
00010101 which is broken.
* – Gotta think like Rocky and Bullwinkle toon here.
** – Hey, Finkel can do it.
*** – There’s something amiss here.
**** – Trying to keep it clean, folks…
***** – Rizzo is owed about a million dollars worth of comp for writing for Star City but he takes none of it. Heartfelt bastard.